NYC - A Stair Too Far

We called it an early night last night in order to drag our sorry carcasses out of bed early so we could get out to Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty. We met up with Russel and Lidy around nine thirty this morning at their hotel and grabbed a subway train all the way down town to the South Ferry "Miss Liberty".

Security was every bit as tight as trying to get through airport security, but luckily we didn't have to remove our shoes, still I always feel like I should have been asked to dinner and a movie before removing my belt and going through the metal detector....


I do have a gripe though, it wasn't until we arrived at Liberty Island that we discovered we could not actually climb up the Statue of Liberty. You have to pre-purchase designated time tickets AT LEAST ONE WEEK IN ADVANCE!!!! They definitely did not have that very well signed and advertised. i was looking forward to this since they opened the crown back up a week ago for the first time since the September 11th attacks; but I'm a silver lining in every cloud kinda guy, so we headed down to Wall Street and then on to Ground Zero and enjoyed the view of NYC and the statue from the base of the statue.

I didn't remember Wall Street being so narrow, it's a bit of a mind trip to think of all the billions and trillions of dollars moving hands and through countries in such a small area! Even with the down economy, it's still the financial center fo the world... for now.
(of course it's empy.. but at least it's not full of IOU's")

They're doing construction on Ground Zero, working on the base of what will be the new Freedom Tower and the reflection pools that represent the old twin towers. There's a small visitors center/temporary memorial near Ground Zero. Inside are various videos and personal accounts from those there on that day, it's intense, emotional... my last time here in NYC was late March of 2002, only a few short months after the September 11th attacks, then they were still cleaning and sorting through the giant hole that was the site of the world trade center.
(copies of the missing poster put up around St. Peter's Church... I remember seeing those still hanging at the church months after September 11th....)

Now, it just looks like one more of any numerous construction sights, but then again, no one will forget what was there and what happened.

From the sight of Ground Zero me and James headed off to hunt for China Town. I was hoping to find a pair of aviator sunglasses and maybe some foakleys. China Town was an interesting mix of sights sounds and colors, but it was in little italy that I was able to score some aviator glasses, but no luck on the foakleys.

Still, I think I enjoyed China Town the most; James equeated it to being in a place like Thailand, and I have to admit we two towered over everyone else on the sidewalks. It was like escaping to a little island of foreign culture in the mdidle of one of the largest American cities.


I was able to get a hold of my dad's old family friend, Patty Murray who lives here in NYC. Her and her husband Jeff invited me out to hear a friend of theirs play at a local dive bar here in NYC. The band, named after the lead singer, "Andred Tinker" was actually a lot of fun.
(Jeff, Patty, Me)
They opened with a tribute song to the recently deceased Michael Jackson: Billy Jean, and Andrew's moon walk was right on the money and got a good number of applause and cheers from those at the bar. They were a fun band, full of energy and played very well. They had come all the way from Denton, Texas (which is just outisde of Dallas).


I think I made a new friend with the bartender, they were nice girls out of Wisconsin, in fact, I've only met one native New Yorker during my time in NYC. Ah, but, lots of fun. Patty and Jeff where a blast, and if I end up with the opportunity I'm going to see if I can't make it out to Mamma Mia if only to be able to wave at Jeff down into the pit and be "That Guy" at the show. hahahahaa.

Today may have seemed like a short day on this blog, but walking around china town and lil italy took a lot out of me, so I snuck off to the hotel for a nice short... um... two hour nap before hitting the night life.

Tomorrow we're going to get a dose of artistic culture. The Guggenheim Museum, the Met and whatever else we can find our way into.